Welcome to French at MJS

Intent:

Melbourne Junior School intends to use the Language Angels scheme of work and resources to ensure we offer a relevant, broad and ambitious French curriculum that will inspire and excite our pupils using a wide variety of topics and themes. All pupils will be expected to achieve their full potential by encouraging high expectations and excellent standards in their foreign language learning - the ultimate aim being that pupils will feel willing and able to continue studying languages beyond Key Stage 2.

We intend that by the end of Key Stage 2, all children will be able to speak in simple sentences, hold simple conversations and read and write simple texts in French.

The intent is that all content will be continuously updated and reviewed annually, creating a dynamic programme of study that will be clearly outlined in both long-term and short-term planning. This will ensure that the foreign language knowledge of our pupils progresses within each academic year and is extended year upon year throughout the Key Stage and, in so doing, will always be relevant and in line with meeting or exceeding national DfE requirements. 

The four key language learning skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing will be taught and all necessary grammar will be covered in an age-appropriate way across the Key Stage. This will enable pupils to use and apply their learning in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning. In addition, the children will be taught how to look up and research language they are unsure of and they will have a bank of materials to help them with their spoken and written tasks going forward. This bank of materials will help pupils retrieve and build on previous knowledge throughout their junior school language learning journey.

The intent is that all pupils will develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. Learning a second language will also offer pupils the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them with a better awareness of self, others and cultural differences. The intention is that they will be working towards becoming life-long language learners.

Implementation:

All classes will have access to a high-quality foreign languages curriculum using the Language Angels scheme of work and resources. This will progressively develop pupil skills in foreign languages through regularly taught and well-planned lessons in Key Stage 2 which will be taught by class teachers.

Children will progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge organised around age-appropriate topics and themes - building blocks of language into more complex, fluent and authentic language.

The planning of different levels of challenge and which units to teach at each stage of the academic year will be addressed dynamically and will be reviewed in detail annually as units are updated and added to the scheme. Lessons offering appropriate levels of challenge and stretch will be taught at all times to ensure pupils learn effectively, continuously building their knowledge of and enthusiasm for the language they are learning.

Children will build on previous knowledge gradually as their foreign language lessons continue to recycle, revise and consolidate previously learnt language whilst building on all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Knowledge and awareness of required and appropriate grammar concepts will be taught throughout all units at all levels of challenge. Teachers ensure that children are taught the appropriate grammar at the right time in their foreign language learning journey. Grammar rules and patterns will be taught by level of challenge:

• We start with nouns and articles and 1st person singular of high frequency verbs.
• We move on to the use of the possessive, the concept of adjectives, use of the negative form, conjunctions/connectives and introduce the concept of whole regular verb conjugation.
• We end with opinions and introduce the concept of whole high frequency irregular verb conjugation in the later units.

Grammar is integrated and taught discretely throughout all appropriate units. Teachers can also use the specific Grammar Explained units to ensure pupils are exposed to all of the appropriate grammar so they are able to create their own accurate and personalised responses to complex authentic foreign language questions by the end of the primary phase.

The school has a unit planner in place which serves as an overall ‘teaching map’ outlining for all teachers within the school what each class in each year group will be taught and when it will be taught. Each class in each year group will have an overview of units to be taught during the academic year to ensure substantial progress and learning is achieved. Each teaching unit is divided into 6 fully planned lessons.

• Each unit and lesson will have clearly defined objectives and aims.
• Each lesson will incorporate interactive whiteboard materials to include ample speaking and listening tasks within a lesson.
• Lessons will incorporate challenge sections and desk-based activities that will provide three levels of stretch and differentiation.
• Reading and writing activities will be offered in all units.
• Every unit will include a grammar concept which will increase in complexity as pupils move through the Key Stage.
• Writing activities are provided to ensure that pupils are recalling previously learnt language and, by reusing it, will be able to retrieve it and use it with greater ease and accuracy. These tasks will help to link units together and show that pupils are retaining and recalling the language taught with increased fluency and ease.

Units are progressive within themselves as subsequent lessons within a unit build on the language and knowledge taught in previous lessons. As pupils progress though the lessons in a unit they will build their knowledge and develop the complexity of the language they use. Over the course of a 6-week unit, pupils are encouraged to build more complex and sophisticated language structures with their blocks of language knowledge.

Impact:

As well as each subsequent lesson within a unit being progressive, the organisation of Language Angels units also directs, drives and guarantees progressive learning and challenge. Units increase in level of challenge, stretch and linguistic and grammatical complexity as pupils move through the Key Stage. Units are chosen to ensure that each requires more knowledge and application of skills than the previous one studied. Activities contain progressively more text (both in English and French) and lessons will have more content as the children become more confident and ambitious with the foreign language they are learning.

Early units start at basic noun and article level and teach pupils how to formulate short phrases. By the time pupils reach later units they will be exposed to much longer text and will be encouraged to formulate their own, more personalised responses based on a much wider bank of vocabulary, linguistic structures and grammatical knowledge. They will be able to create longer pieces of spoken and written language and are encouraged to use a variety of conjunctions, adverbs, adjectives, opinions and justifications.

Pupils will continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their foreign language learning journey through the Key Stage. Previous language will be recycled, revised, recalled and consolidated whenever possible and appropriate.